On
Holy Ground
On
Holy Ground
Gas from the Crab Nebula surrounds the interior of La Purisima Concepcion de Cuarac, an abandoned 17th century mission church in central New Mexico.
Ragged gas continues to stream out from the supernova explosion Chinese astronomers witnesses in 1054 A.D. NASA
=s Hubble Space Telescope used 5 color filters to assemble this false-color view of gas and debris continuing to escape the event. The various colors represent variations in temperature and density of the gas, as well as its chemical composition. (GRIN Data Base: GPN-2000-000895. Also credit Hubble Heritage Team, STScI, AURA.)The floor of the church is paved with red sandstone laid by Indian labor under the direction of Franciscan friars. Modern excavations located 41 individuals buried under the nave flagstones. The settlement was abandoned before 1680 due to Apache attacks, drought and famine.
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